


Sonny, Zane and Community

by Vera



Category: East West 101
Genre: Character of Color, Community: chromaticvision, Episode: s01e03 Islander Sacrifice, Gen, Meta, Muslim Character, non-fiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-04-25
Updated: 2010-04-25
Packaged: 2017-10-09 03:33:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/82572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vera/pseuds/Vera
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><em>"What good is all your success if you can't help out our own?" </em></p>
            </blockquote>





	Sonny, Zane and Community

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Marina for excellent advice.

East West 101 is an Australian cop drama set in the inner south west of Sydney. It's remarkable because the characters are mostly of colour, reflecting more closely than any other Australian cop drama the real composition of Australia, particularly in the regions it's set.

Detective Sonny Koa is a Torres Strait Islander, married and very recently a dad. His partner and friend, Detective Zane Malik, is a married Arab Australian father of two. In the third episode of the first series, Islander Sacrifice, their different engagement with the community is highlighted and puts their friendship under stress.

At the episode's start we learn that Sonny has asked Zane to be godfather to his son. They joke about soccer and rugby, and which game the young Koa will be playing.

Zane's priority is his immediate family. He initially resists his wife, Amina's request that he help, Wedi1, an Iranian immigrant who was taken from his home by the Counter Terrorism Coordination Command for questioning in the early morning. When Wedi's released with no charge, he's left on the street in his pajamas, with no shoes, no money and no car. Zane is uncomfortable with his wife's letting Wedi's family stay at their house and asking him to pick the Wedi up. He worries that mud — the inference of terrorism — however untrue and unfair, will stick to him. In scenes in other episodes, it's clear that Zane is sensitive to the difficulty of reconciling his job and position with the way many of his colleagues treat Muslim Australians. In this episode Amina asks him, "What good is all your success if you can't help out our own?"

Sonny, in contrast, has no such difficulty. He has a lot of empathy for the young Pacific Islander arrested for his involvement in a drive by shooting, the crime of the episode. To connect with Kelo, to get him to give the information they need for the case, he asks Kelo to pray with him and while it might at first appear to be a detective's ruse to get the suspect to confess, it soon becomes clear that Sonny genuinely cares for Kelo and has a lot of anger at the pressures that drive and lure them to associate with criminals2. Because Islanders are usually such big guys, they're often recruited as muscle and treated like dumb muscle. Poverty and disadvantage mean that Kelo, a promising young footballer, is getting into criminal activity. Sonny, through his action in the episode, shows that he sees his position as an advantage, to offer guidance and support for Kelo and other young people like him.

Sonny actively engages his community; he has strong opinions and he is the change he sees in the world. While he's obviously a compassionate man, he's more emotionally engaged with Kelo than any other person they arrest in the first season. He cares about Kelo's soul and cares to reach out to him by opening his own heart. He's angry that the church, which should be helping young people, is exacerbating the problem with the public tithes, leading young people to crime so their parents will have money to give. He berates the local priest for turning a blind eye to the source of the money. Most pointedly, he rejects his good friend profoundly and at a level which is deeply meaningful to both of them — withdrawing his request for Zane to be godfather to his son — when he believes that Zane is cavalier and uncaring about Kelo's fate.

It broke my heart five ways.

Sonny, Zane and Amina are great characters and you should all get hold of East West 101. The third series is currently in development.

* * *

  
1\. Wedi - I am unsure of the spelling. His and Kelo's names, along with many others in the guest cast, are not listed on IMDB.   
2\. The episode is available on YouTube: [Islander Sacrifice part 1 of 5](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtD2U-mK1r4). If you'd like to skip to some of the key Kelo and Sonny scenes, go to part 3, but it's worth watching from the beginning. 


End file.
